Dad....

Our beach house in Himatangi 1975!!

My Wedding - 1997

December 2010

Dad goes to Wakefield Hospital today.
Those that know of Wakefield shudder when they hear the name because you are always pretty sick if your going there. We are not quite sure what is wrong with Dad so we are hoping the Doctors will find some answers. Fingers crossed he just needs a Stent.

He is nervous and scared.

We are too.

1 more sleep

Reuben, Finn and Amalie

Kate , Annemaree and Me!

One more sleep and I get to drive 5 hours North to meet up with my dear friends for the weekend. they are driving 2 hours south!! I miss them terribly and this day has taken so long to get here. We all had our babies within 10 weeks of each other Amalie first, then Finn then Rueben, and were super close. Then we moved :(

I can't wait to see them.

Nothing beats laughter between friends

Sorry about the swearing...but....

Just is awesome! Even though its in American sign language so its totally different to what I know its still awesome!

Sorry about the swearing...

Moons and apples!

Our first apple from one of our apple tree

And because everyone seems crazy about the moon at the moment - here is our moon taken last night!

I can't believe its only 5 more sleeps until our girls weekend away! I am meeting 3 friends in Tauranga (5 hour drive) for the weekend. I am so excited that I get to see my dear friends. i miss them so much.
Its a a bit of a weird feeling as even though we have been married 14 years I have never once left Greg to go away by myself. He goes away 3-4 times a year am I am always at home! It seems strange but I so can't wait!

Shoot 2!

Shoot 2 was yesterday.
Another super tall girl! Where was all the height when I was trying to grow!! So on tiptoes plus my 5ft 7 self I had a blast shooting Amy. the purple was amazing in her hair. Again the makeup was to die for.
I have learnt so much about portraits doing this. Fellow photographers that I stalked until they added me to their facebook have helped with editing. I cant stand those freaky photoshopped eyes so I normally leave them but I ran the Coffeeshop Bright eyes free action at about 15% so it just lifted the eyes. Yummy!
I am a happy girl.

Link to Coffeeshop Eye Bright Free Action:
http://www.thecoffeeshopblog.com/p/coffeeshop-actions-and-presets.html

Tuesdays around the world - cleaning out my wallet

So today I was cleaning out my wallet. Now I do this often enough that I was so surprised with what was in there. A little something I had forgotten about. So amongst a receipt for a Wiggles car we no longer own (I know I said I clean it out regularly not sure why I am holding on to that!) A photo of Jenifer Love Hewitt's hairstyle from Garfield that I love, a picture of a tattoo I am sure I will never get but maybe one day I will.... I found this.
A piece of white paper, folded only once.
It reads:

To my dearest baby

The day is drawing closer until we meet. I think about it all the time and I wonder where you are. I pray for you daily and your birthmum. I pray she is taking care of herself, for that takes care of you.
I want her mind to be at ease as she relises that this is the best thing to do for you. I know she loves you and I will never doubt that but we love you too and we need you here with us.
I wonder what you look like? I know you won't have my hair or your daddy's eyes but you will still be very much a part of us. It's exciting to think you will soon be with us. I can't wait to be your Mummy. I love you very much, and we will see each other very soon.

Love always
Mummy

I wish it had a date on it but I am picking it was from around 2001/2.
Oliver came to us December 2002 and then Amalie in September 2006.

What a special find.....

Thrown off guard

Si I was so geared up for this photo shoot. I had waded through thousands off photos online for 1950's and I was ready to go.
Got to Salon and the model was beautiful. Make up was amazing. Did I say the model was beautiful She was stunning!
So off we went to the site we had picked out - lots of different spots and backgrounds.
I started shooting and the stylists goes "Your just getting the back - right?" Ummmm "No" I didnt realise she only wanted photos of the back!!!!
So all my ideas went out the window and I nearly cried the whole way home thinking what on earth have I done! Dark hair and a beautiful up do = very hard to photograph.
Fingers crossed she likes them. I took hundreds but these are my three favs.
Which one do you like?
Wish I was better at photoshop!!! But as its a competition you have to send in your SOOC and your edit so I dint want to edit too much

I think I like the last one for competition but middle one is my favourite over all. Oh to be 17, 6ft and beautiful!

Bike a thon

Amalie had her kindy bike a thon last night!
It was such a beautiful night and so many families bought their tea down for a large picnic. Then the kids all got on their bikes and rode around and around. There were a few crashes but no major injuries!

Heading off to a photo shoot soon - 1950's and a mega blonde! Its for a hair dressing comp and I can't wait to get there!

Balloons

On Friday night we all went to town. It was to raise money for Christchurch and I cant believe they raised $30,000! Well done to our little town.
You made a donation, wore red and black and then when the towns clock tower struck 7pm you let your balloon go!
Thousands of balloons fulled with hope and messages for Christchurch!

Today - its all about the numbers

Day 6 of the Rescue Efforts
147 confirmed dead
50 + people missing 22 of those are in the Cathedrals tower amongst the ruble
80% of homes have power
65% have water
100% Schools closed
755 buildings are RED Stickered - so will be demolished
909 are YELLOW stickered - fixable
1276 are GREEN - so they are fine
20,000 students helping with clean up
30,000 kilos of packed lunches and teas for rescuers and helpers helicoptered in over the past 2 days
700 army
350 Australian Police arrived a few days ago
7 rescue teams from other countries Japan, China,UK,USA Australia
1,000's of heroes who lifted ruble from the injured and went above and beyond to help strangers in need.

Here is an amazing link to before and after photos - just move the slider across

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/4705106/Photos-Before-and-after-the-Christchurch-earthquake

We are still waiting for a miracle that someone will be pulled alive from the ruins. Just a miracle......